I'm still alive and kicking! And no, I am not giving this baby up...I just need to make sure that everything is ok with my trusted friend and beta.
A thousand thanks to you, Gabriel Nichole...bless you. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own RotG or Firefly/Serentity, they are both respectively owned by Joss Whedon and William Joyce
Chapter 2: The Boy with Misfortune
Last Chapter…
"I'm sorry, looks like I brought some trouble…"
North had to abandoned the current project that he was working on, just to see what the commotion was about.
All he could remember that he was picking out some thread and needle and almost stabbed himself in the finger when a patron screamed out in Chinese outside of his shop. He almost crushes few of his workers if it weren't for their signature pointy hats with the bells attached to the tips.
Really, why they always under boot? He thought to himself.
The Russian man stood outside of the workshop in order to find the source of the commotion. Luckily with how the busybodies are gathering around (and being ushered away by the authorities), he had to take a wild guess and theorize that would be it. While weaving his way through the crowd, North finally reached the "eye" and saw Bunny…and a familiar looking face.
Only difference is his hair color.
Pure white like freshly washed sheets that hung along the clothes line; it looked too natural to be hair dye, unlike how youngsters have done these days.
The boy was seated by the steps of a neighboring shop across from Bunny's, wrapped by some sort of shock blanket as he was being questioned by one of the policemen. North could see that he had his head down the whole time as he recalled his experience; thank the Buddha for him to listen to Bunny's advice on having a legitimate business as a front. He had to slow down his pace, so that he wouldn't attract attention as he made his way to his comrade. The tall Australian was just finishing up his questions to the policeman as a few others hauled off some thugs.
Probably the cause of this commotion…
However, something caught his eye. North could have sworn that one of the thugs' hands have a tattoo of what looks to be a monkey's paw made of stone…
Can it be…?
He mentally shook his head before making his way to Bunny's side as soon as he was finished with the officer who seemed to have gotten all the notes he needed.
"Bunny, what happened here?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth when the latter finally finished up answering the policeman's questions. Bunny ran his hand through his silver grey hair, messing up his ponytail a bit as he tried to use the right words to use so they won't blew their true operation. Corruption amongst the police force was expected; especially some are willing to take bribes from gangsters or Alliance.
"If only I knew…the kid's was jumped by a couple of thugs after purchasing my products," he replied. "Didn't know anything else…might need to be taken to the station for more questioning…"
However, in his green eyes, it was obviously saying that he might have seen the tattoo on the man's hand as well. North glance over to the boy, who was just finishing up, before turning back to his friend; hiding a serious demeanor.
After questioning, take the boy to Work Shop. We need the full detail.
Ya got it, Mate.
"And that was about it…that's all I could tell you." The young boy looked up to the detective sitting in front of him.
They are currently seated in one of the interrogation rooms, recording the recollections of what happened this afternoon. There was no doubt in his mind that there are other people observing on the other side of the mirror, no thanks to the old police drama that he had come across on the wave from time to time. That one particular show concerning about "special victims" always seem to be depressing…
To his relief, the detective nodded as he typed down one last note before looking him to him.
"Actually, kiddo, that would be more than enough," he stood up and walked over to open the door for him. "You're free to go home now, just make sure that you watch your back."
The boy nodded as he readjusted his wig before standing up and exit out of the door. He let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding as soon as he was out of the room. It was rather tense and stifling during the interrogation, he had always wondered what it was like but now that he had firsthand experience…he didn't want to go through that again.
He head up out of the police station, greeted by the fresh air and the slight chill of the wind of outside. The sight of buildings came into view as he looked around, seeing the people come and go as cruisers fly above. It doesn't help for the fact that this is his first time on coming to this planet. A friend of his told him of a decent shop that can not only handcrafted toys but can also repair them. When he arrived to Morgiana with his personal shuttle, the boy was overwhelmed by the size of the city. The buildings are overwhelmingly tall, but in there are other certain districts that seem to be a bit old and rundown.
Being in a place like this, it somehow reminded him of…
"G'day, mate!"
He jumped a bit at the sound of the familiar Australian voice and whipped his head around to find a familiar tanned man leaning against the side of the police department with his arms crossed. He wasn't lying that this man is attractive in the shop, standing at least around 6 feet tall with the right amount of muscle without being too muscular. His skin was a contrast to the boy's pale complexion, a color of bronze from his time underneath the suns of the 'Verse. Blue floral tattoos adorned on his arms, he could see the smaller third one beneath his bluish-grey bangs.
But he has standards; after all he does have someone special someone waiting for him back home.
Well, make that two.
"Bunny…"
Bunny smiled as he gave him a two-finger salute.
"Yo," he greeted before removing himself from the wall. "How are ya feelin'?"
The boy sighed as he ran his hand through the faux brown hair. It seemed that he placed on the wig again, probably for further safety if he was mistaken. The Morgiana capital is a rather large city, so there was a good chance that the people who saw them in front of the Warren shop are most likely not going to see them again.
"I'm actually doing fine, I guess…" then he looked up to him, staring straight into his green eyes. "But I really appreciate you saving me back there."
Bunny felt the thump in his chest again; he cleared his throat as he thought over to respond back.
"It's…it's nothin', mate," granted that mostly him and the Norths steal (and sometimes double-cross) their clients. But once in a blue moon, they have come across some certain…things that they don't agree with, North had to make due with coming out of a job with little to no chump change. However the down side that even if they do help certain people, chances of receiving gratitude was null. In fact, he recently remembered on one job that a small band of women that they have saved from some bigot cult on a backwater planet.
Don't want another encounter like that again…
"Anyone could have done that…" he cleared his throat before thinking up something. He had to take the kid to the Workshop for some serious questioning. Bunny already fed the cops what they want while leaving out some certain details. If those blokes are what they think, then this might be more than just trouble as the kid have mentioned.
"Um…about the chocolate…" his thoughts were broken when the white-haired boy spoke up. "It got ruined in the middle of the struggle, so I was wondering…"
"Actually, I was about to offer you another one," then he thought over a bit. "Free of charge, this time around. Think of it as an…um, a condolence gift in a way."
Ok, that sounded suspicious, even to him. Hell, even he knows that he wasn't convincing himself! But the kid seemed to have bought it…
…ah, Tā mā de yǔzhòu! Of course he was thinking about giving this kid chocolate for free!
Mainly to get him to accompany with him to the workshop…no, that is DEFINITELY the wrong way to word it, by thought nonetheless-
"So, shall we get going then?" Bunny blinked and saw the teenager staring at him, with his arms clasped behind his back. That appearance alone gave him an innocent air of a child, not like the flirty side that he had witnessed earlier today. Honestly, if there is a Beijing Opera troupe, this kid could be a star in no time.
"Yeah, I'll lead the way. Just stay close to me, alright?"
"Tashi, prepare some tea…the rest of you, tidy this place up a bit, we have guest coming!"
Just as North clapped his hands two times, everyone in his shop immediately get to work. Well, most of them, some of the "elves"- a term that they prefer for some reason, reckon that it was much more fancier than "midget" or "dwarf"- preferred to mess around and have a make-shift band improvised with cleaning supplies. Singing something about a guy being blue….
It took Yaloo, another one of North's competent comrades, to talk them into fixing up the place a bit. After all, a special guest is about to arrive soon…
North surveyed the cleaning over reminding another hulking man who was just about to place away his painting supplies for that toy robot line. "I don't like it, paint it red later!" He didn't see the painter babbled out in protest as he made his way to the office. Once he was inside, North spots his latest project on his work desk.
It was a small black horse plushie, and he was in a little of mending the leg and button eye upon the boy's request. Right before promoted as "special guest" of Santoff Clausen after that incident in front of Bunny's chocolate shop.
He recalled the afternoon that occurred no more than a while ago this afternoon.
At first he thought that the boy was looking for something to buy for a younger sibling or something like that, until he placed a stuffed toy that was in a form of a small black horse upon his counter. With his trained eye, the plushie looked handmade and a bit worn however the materials are made of the highest quality of cotton. Not the synthetic kind that you tend to find around either towns or planets that are working hard to get by.
A simple mending job on the horse was what he requested, since a boy back on his home planet thought it would be funny to mangle it in front of his little one. North shook his head as he accepted the job. There is always saying about "boys being boys" but in his opinion that saying is nothing but yi da tuo da bian to justify the fact that parents don't even know the meaning of discipline. That is the reason why he doesn't like dealing with rich folk that only see their children as status symbols to show-off and would go as far as neglect them. And they always ask that question "where do I go wrong?" Don't get him wrong, he adored children. But with his chosen lifestyle, it wouldn't be possible…and that is just one of the few reasons.
The mal'chik, on the other hand, he seemed to have the appearance of someone from the middle class of a border planet. But for some odd reason there was some sort of air to him that he couldn't place his finger on. But he knew that he felt something there…he could feel it in his belly.
He remembered when he was looking for black cotton thread and a good needle that he was talking about his comrade, Bunny and his shoppe that specialize in gourmet chocolate. Maybe he was complaining how competitive that he would get over the littlest things like which of their business are better to the public or which holiday is better, Easter or Christmas…he couldn't remember. But either one, it peeked his customer's interest.
The way his eyes twinkled at the mention of chocolate…yeah that could be it.
North had to tell him that the Warren Shoppe is not far from his workplace, saying that he could swing over there while he work on repairing the plushie. He honestly didn't want to advertise to make his "business" chances slimmer now than it should be, but the Russian couldn't help but be touched when the mal'chik said that he loved his shop's design.
"You never see this kind of style these days…"
That is what he said before he went out of the door.
Most customers, mainly those who managed to move out of the comfort zone of the upper crust section, just remark how plain and tacky it looked. It took all of his self-control to not to bring out his pistol and shoot them in the head. But if there is any smart remark on his wife, it took the combined effort of Yaloo and Phil to hold him back from attacking them with his cutlass. The last thing they want is to have him to be placed in prison for murder on first degree.
"Mladenets, Bunny and the guest are here," he heard his dearest Anya called from the front desk, breaking him out of his train of thought.
North shook his head a bit before heading out of his office. There he found Bunny and the mal'chik, which the younger was enjoying a cup of tea before making a compliment to Tashi who seemed to be pleased. Thank God and Buddha in Heaven, that neither one of the elves have contaminated the batch like they do for some reason.
"So we meet again," he spoke up, in his usual jovial tone.
He could see that the boy had his wig back on again, turning his attention as he took a careful sip from the mug. That is when he noticed something. It was considered small…but for some reason, the way he held that mug seemed kind of, for a better lack of word, elegant. Which odd considering that he seemed to have the appearance screamed out middle-class, he wondered…
"I hope that I give you the tour of the Santoff Clausesn Workshop, but business first," he opened the door wide. "Shall we, mal'chik?"
The boy nodded as he allowed being lead to the office, without any protest. Once all four are inside, Bunny pulled out a seat for the youth to sit in. "Thank you," he spoke to him sincerely as he made himself comfortable.
North turned to a small plate of cookies (made by Anya) and held the plate over to him. "Cookies?" he offered.
The latter politely declined, seemed to prefer the tea. The Russian nodded before placing the plate back on the desk, leaning back on it. "Alright, time for business," his tone was serious when he spoke. This marked for Bunny to inconspicuously lock the office door, just to make sure that no one gets in and interrupt them. North could see with his trained eye that the mal'chik seemed to know on what his companion did as he glanced over to Anya who went up to by his side, leaning against the desk in front of him.
He sighed heavily as he stared at his tea, glancing at his still-full mug. He couldn't see what expression that he have, but North could tell that he was expecting this beforehand.
"I suppose that you're wondering what happened this afternoon." It was more of a statement than a question.
Anya nodded, now wearing her business face, the same one for their real job. "Those men who tried to capture you, they're the underlings of the gang that called themselves the Stone Vanara," her tone was serious, void of the usual playfulness. "They seemed to be interested in you for some reason."
The Stone Vanara is one of the most feared gangs, since Niska, known by the tattoo of a stone monkey paw; while they do control drug trafficking in the underground, they mostly specialize mainly in prostitution rings that consist of kidnapped young men and women from outskirt planets, even going as far as picking them off of the streets. No one, not even the Alliance, knew how big they are. Or where their base of operation…
The boy nodded, slowly reaching up to pull off his wig, revealing pure white spikes that sprang up as a result.
"I could say it was because of my hair…" then he looked up to the Norths with an expressionless glance. "But I guess you can say that's not enough."
The way he spoke about his obvious ordeal almost sounded like this wasn't the first time that the notorious gang tried to kidnap him in broad daylight. Bunny raised his eyebrow as he took mental note of the new facts that they have heard. "This isn't first time you were almost kidnapped," he commented.
The boy nodded, still staring at the tea. "I'm probably the only one in the whole 'Verse with white hair," he spoke up. "Not only that I'm more or less came from a prestige family."
"I kinda figured," North said. "It's only small, but I noticed how you hold your mug. I've seen that method of holding a cup is from some tea ceremony." He placed out some certain details of their other job, but he did see a beautiful tea ceremony being performed on one of the jobs that they were on, concerning about an ornate mirror that needed to be delivered by an old woman to her adult daughter.
"That and I noticed that your posture is very good," he thrown in the last second. He wasn't kidding, by the time the mal'chik sat down; his posture is the perfect combination of relaxation and the kind of sitting position that could be found on aristocrats.
The white-haired teen looked up and smiled coyly at him. "You seemed to be well-traveled man for someone of your profession," he said, sounding impressed. "You also specialize in delivery service?"
North cleared his throat, feeling quite tickled pink as he scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Well, I don't know about being well-traveled and all…" Then he felt Anya elbowing him hard in the ribs. "Ow…" he whined, mock-glaring at her.
His wife just rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the youth, who politely held back his laugh at their slight bicker. "Anyway, I don't know if we heard you right. You say that you're from a prestige family?"
"Well, more like employed by the family," the white-haired boy corrected before taking another sip of his tea. "It's…kind of complicated."
Bunny moved his position from the door to stand by the youth's side, finding that he kept quiet long enough. "Is it anyone we know?" he questioned, sounding a bit suspicious but managed to be civil. He could not help but feel that the boy was leaving out some certain details. Aside the fact from his background (or what he could reveal) and some unique physical features, Bunny doesn't feel that they're getting the whole story.
The boy looked up to him with an eyebrow raised. "You don't trust me, do you?"
"Don't get me wrong, mate, I just couldn't help but feel that you're leaving out some parts of your story." And he has all the right to point that out, no doubt that North and Anya have noticed too. Just because they're thieves, doesn't mean that they don't have a good background check on their potential clients. That is a number one (unwritten) rule of thievery and smuggling, just make sure that their client, no matter what the status, is legit. Even the non-legit ones…
"It's fine, I get it…" he shrugged casually. Well, at least he understands and didn't fly off the handle in a heartbeat. "But I can assure you that I have my own reasons."
"But that doesn't explain how you know about the Stone Vanara." Anya pointed out.
The boy sighed heavily at this, turning his attention to the green liquid in the mug. "It's not something I want to recall again…" he was practically staring his own small refection in the tea. Bunny stared at him with concern, debating on whether or not that he should dig into it. Unfortunately, North had to open his trap without even thinking.
"Well, it's not that bad, no?" he asked.
The Australian could see the boy flinch a bit, he sighed before walking over to smack him over the head. "North, ya friggin' gumby!" he hissed. The brunet stared at him, with an expression that clearly asked what he did wrong before looking to Anya for help. Fortunately for Bunny, she didn't bother to defend him, knowing that pointing out his insensitivity was pointless. "I'm so sorry about that…"
I swear I would stuff a grenade into his mouth and pull the pin!
"No, no, it was fine…it's really fine," the boy reassured him, although Bunny doubted that he was really fine. He's a good actor, he would give him that. "Let's just say that this is the second time that I have run into them today. First time…well, I was only thirteen."
Bunny's green eyes widen at this information. The first time that he came across the gang when he was only an adolescent, and few years later is the second time?! This is too much of a coincidence, even for him. Just how much bad luck does he have?
"With all due respect…how old are you?" Anya spoke up. It was a question out of genuine curiosity. Both men turned to him, looking interested. The boy looked at each of them with wide blue eyes, as if he was studying their faces.
"I'm 17," he simply answered. He took another sip from his tea after that.
The grey-haired man was almost attempted to let out a sigh of relief, thank all Omnipresent Beings in heaven that he wasn't as young as he thought he is. The last thing he wanted is to wake up in a bathtub filled with ice…and Anya standing over him with his most precious part of anatomy…
No, no! Focus right now! Not what-if! Luckily for him, someone broke his train of thought.
"So in a four year gap, you ran into the Stone Vanara again today?" a sigh escaped from her slightly red lips as Anya shook her head. "I'm no Buddhist but you got some really bad karma following you, Mal'chik."
"I was thinking the same thing…" then the boy looked up to them, with a small confident grin.
"And by the way…I'm Jack. Not Mal'chik."
Translation(s):
Tā mā de yǔzhòu – fuck the universe
yi da tuo da bian – a big pile of shit
mal'chik – Russian for boy (obvious if you know either the Russian language or heard of the epic earworm song Malchik Gay by t.A.T.u.)
Stone Vanara – reference to the monkey deities of both Chinese and Hindu mythologies, mainly Son Goku/Sun Wukong and Hanuman of the Ramayana.
